Yukari Yakumo
frame|right Introduction Yukari Yakumo, the violet sleepy mistress and a boundary youkai who can manipulate all boundaries. One of the oldest youkai beings in Gensokyo, Yukari is whimsically antagonizing and overbearingly dubious in personality when she's not busy sleeping, though her nine tailed fox Shikigami named Ran Yakumo often acts in her stead. Yukari's fighting style in SWR allows for an impressive mixture of intimidation and surprise tactics. Backed by one of the best projectiles in the game and a slew of abilities which allow her to close ground safely while threatening the opponent Yukari will often find herself trapping her enemies in the corner which opens up a slew of offensive opportunities and traps due to range and priority advantage. A good Yukari player will use a variety of moves to lull the opponent's into her rhythm, utilizing the forward motion of many of her attacks and backwards motion of her powerful projectiles to provide the opponent with little chance to cross the "boundaries" Yukari sets. Defensively Yukari also shines due to excellent grazing techniques, low recovery attacks, and a teleporting wake-up which allows effective escape or attack. Yukari's primary weaknesses come in her lack of high-low mixup, weak aerial melee, a large hitbox which enables some characters to land more extensive combos, and a pair of relatively weak default skillcards. Normal Moves 5A: Yukari extends her arm forward striking the opponent's midsection with an open fan. Begins AAAA autocombo. Excellent range for a 5A, good priority and speed. 2A: Yukari performs a crouching backhand with an open fan. Has moderate range, and speed. Depletes 1/2 an orb when blocked incorrectly. Does not combo well or cancel well into anything other than itself (as many as 7 times.) Unless you really need the low hit(s) avoid this attack. 3A: Yukari reclines in a boundary while kicking up traffic signs. Has tremendous range and good power, will always hit low and has no dead-zone. Yukari's hitbox is very low and withdrawn during this attack making this attack an excellent follow-up to a whiffed AAAA combo as your opponent may attempt to use projectiles. Non-counter hits will result in a moderate comboable launch. Counter hits will skyrocket the opponent. 6A Yukari winds up and quickly lances the opponent with her parasol. Strikes high and will deplete one orb if blocked incorrectly. May be cancelled into skill cards or spell cards. 6A Charged version of above. Will guard crush and break one spirit orb if blocked incorrectly. Damage increases. f.5A: Yukari sweeps her foot forward producing an arc of black mist. Has deceptive range due to poor visibility in many stages and excellent speed. Hits low and does spirit damage as of 1.02 if blocked incorrectly. Has high priority and is generally safe to use, can be followed by 6A or 3A to pressure and damage enemy spirit. 5AAAA: Two open fan strikes followed by a boundary slash and a parasol slam. Excellent range, very rarely breaks combo in midstream. When whiffed the parasol slam often puts you at excellent range to continue pushing A to surprise the opponent with f.5A. 66A: Yukari dashes forward before falling to her back, dropping her hitbox back and down as in 3A, then extends a foot producing a very high anti-air attack in the form of a boundary slash. On counter will cause the opponent to rebound off the corner for combos. Has poor horizontal range but comes out quickly. Depletes one orb if blocked incorrectly. 66B: Yukari dashes into a leaping roll and performs a quick roundhouse. Hits high and avoids some low attacks. Has good priority and can be cancelled into skillcards. Depletes one orb if blocked incorrectly. 66C: Yukari dashes forward and performs a move very similar to 3A, receding into a boundary and kicking up traffic signs. However don't be fooled, these stop signs will only hit low (depleting one orb if blocked incorrectly) during the early frames. A fringe hit will strike mid when the signs are fully extended. Does not launch or cancel into anything but spell cards. j.A: Leaping flip kick ala 66B. Your primary aerial attack. Has average priority, low speed, low damage, and short range that only covers an area below and in front of Yukari, despite the large wisp of energy. j.6A: Yukari shoots forward in the air and kicks producing a horizontal boundary. Has deceptively poor range and very few hit frames despite appearance. Move has a high tendency to whiff (even in combos) due to startup and due to the very narrow horizontal hitbox is unreliable. Despite graphical appearance this move will not strike opponents behind Yukari. As of 1.03 this move became far more difficult to use in air-to-ground, but is stronger in air-to-air. j.8A: Jumping kick ala 66A. Has poor horizontal range. Is a reliable follow-up to j.A. Can whiff very often due to short hit frames and awkward range. j.2A: Yukari turns sideways and opens her parasol, spinning and descending slowly towards the opponent. Has a huge hitbox, hits high, has decent priority, and low damage. Sends opponent sliding backwards and causes them to rebound off the wall on a counter to a grounded opponent. Grounded opponents will recover before Yukari, even on a successful hit, so use this move sparingly. It can be cancelled, and escaping via her teleport is strongly advised. 44 (Near Wall): As of v1.03 Yukari is now able to backdash through the stage walls and appear on the other side. While Yukari is sliding off of the stage she is invulnerable. After a brief time she will slide back in on the other side. While returning to the stage she is vulnerable. Can be used to escape pressure, but characters with high speed projectiles or beams can punish easily. Bullet Moves 5B: Yukari fires 15 knives in a wide arc before her. Move is very quick and bullets are of above average density given the number. Servers as excellent combo filler and is good bullet cover. 5B: Charged version of above. Produces 25 knives, effectively thickening the wall of knives. 2B: Yukari recedes into a boundary dropping her hitbox down and back and fires 15 knives diagonally upward. Highly effective against deep jump-ins when followed by Mysterious Butterfly Hidden in Zen Temple C version. 5C: Yukari sends out five fast moving lasers. Extremely dense, very quick and high damage. One of the best projectiles in SWR due to the very small time investment and the high chance of snuffing opponent's projectiles and still striking them. A constant barrage of this ability should be unleashed to pressure the opponent while maintaining high mobility. 6C: Yukari sends out six fast moving lasers that move forward a short distance and then strike off at oblique angles. Excellent air to ground or ground to air due to projectile density and speed. Low damage due to the spread of the bullets making it unlikely many will connect. 2C: Yukari sends five ground lasers along a low horizontal line. Each laser will fire upwards with a short delay producing a staggered edge. Highly useful for disrupting players attempting to strike from the roof such as Patchouli abusing C or a Youmu attempting to abuse j.2A. j.B: Jumping version of 5B. Due to the backwards motion of the j.C's this should be used when wanting to maintain momentum or position. j.5B: Charged version of above. j.2B: Yukari reclines in a boundary and 15 knives appear moving in a diagonal arc. Yukari's hitbox is reduced in size slightly but Yukari is airborne, reducing the utility of the trick. Move is of low utility and should not be used when j.2C is available. j.C: Jumping version of 5C, move is accompanied by significant backwards motion that should not be underestimated. j.6C: Jumping version of 6C, move is accompanied by the same backwards motion as j.C. j.2C: Yukari sends five lasers downwards at a diagonal. Very quick, very powerful. Comes with significant backward motion, making the move safer at close range. Can be used immediately following a backwards jump to punish players that chase. Special Moves Alternate-Skill Cards Spellcards Combos *'Midscreen BnB's:' 5AAA 5B 5C 623C Hits: Variable Damage: 2500+ Spirit Orb usage: 3 Notes: 5AAA 5B does not work on Reimu, Sakuya, Yuyuko, or Suika. Cancel the second hit of 623C into barrier. 5AAA 5B 2C HJC8 j.6D j.A 5AAAA Hits: Variable Damage: 2700+ Spirit Orb usage: 3 Notes: Works on any character not listed above f.5A 3A 236B Damage: 1900+ Spirit Orb usage: 1 Notes: This works at the same standard Yukari range for 6B 236B in iamp. You can also do 3A since f.5A distance is a bit hard to determine, but it will only do 1500+. *'Corner BnB's:' 5AAAA 6A 5B Damage: 2200+ Spirit Orb usage: 1 Notes: Easy to do for okay damage and 100% knockdown. Alternatively you can use 623 but they either do less or aren't 100% knockdown. 5AAAA j.A j.6A j.B/C Damage: 2400+/2300+ Spirit Orb usage: 1 Notes: Variation from 5AAAA starter. It's more challenging than the above but is not very difficult. j.B finish might fail to score all of its hits and not knockdown, while j.C is a guaranteed knockdown. 5AAAA 2B 2C hjc j.8A Damage: 2400+ Spirit Orb usage: 2 Notes: Requires very specific spacing or else the 2B won't combo into the 2C or will miss outright. 100% limit. 5AAA 5B 5C 623B/C Damage: 2500+ Spirit Orb usage: 3 Notes: B version does a bit less but is a forced knockdown with 100% limit. 5AAA 5B 2C hjc j.2C Damage 2400+ Spirit Orb usage: 3 Notes: Another variation for corner. 100% knockdown. 5AAA 5B 2C hjc j.2A 623C Damage: 2400+ Spirit Orb usage: 3 Notes: A more fancy combo but does less than 2 combos above. Be careful when trying this since chaining j.2A is tricky, chaining 623C after j.2A may be harder than you would think in netplay and a whiffed 623C is easily punishable. f.5A 3A 2C 236B Damage: varies from 2000+ to 2200+ Spirit Orb usage: 2 Notes: Same thing as the midscreen bnb but now able to add 2C for more damage. Damage varies depending on how many lasers hit before the tomb connects so it's a good idea to delay 236B a bit to get more hits from 2C. f.5A 3A 2C hjc j.5B Damage: 2300 Spirit Orb usage: 2 Notes: Higher damage variation of above. Can be used while Bound of Aoyama is equipped. j.5B must be activated midway through the HJ, Yukari will rise to the opponent's height while charging. 5AAAA/f.A6A 236C (Aoyama) j.6A Damage: 2900+ Spirit Orb usage: 1 Notes: High damage corner combo to use when you have Bound for Aoyama equipped. The final j.6a is a very tight link but the combo does considerable damage even without it. *'Counter Combos:' 66A 5AAA 5B 5C 623B/C Damage: 2900+ Spirit Orb usage: 3 Notes: Requires you to be close enough to the corner so the opponent rebounds into the 5AAA. Note that most of the above corner strings can be substituted in. This one just deals the most. 236B 6A 236B Damage: 2500+ Spirit Orb usage: 2 Notes: Usable anywhere. Becomes much stronger with tomb upgrades. 236B j.A j.6A j.B/C Damage: 2600+ Spirit Orb usage: 2 Notes: Requires close proximity to the corner. Don't do the j.A too soon or else the j.6A will whiff. 100% limit. Frame Data